Truist Financial Reiterates Buy Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating on Palo Alto Networks and raised its price target to $220 (from $205), implying about a 20.3% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but positive overall: MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $211.64 average target while several firms have trimmed targets recently; PANW traded near $182.83 with a $149.2B market cap and a P/E of ~101.
• Palo Alto Networks beat the last quarter's estimates with $1.03 EPS vs. $0.94 expected and $2.59B in revenue (up 14.9% YoY), and analysts forecast about $2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Truist Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $220.00 target price on the network technology company's stock, up from their previous target price of $205.00. Truist Financial's price objective points to a potential upside of 20.33% from the stock's previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays set a $200.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.64.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $182.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,712,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,482,113. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $149.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.04, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $164.16 and a 200 day moving average of $180.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total value of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares in the company, valued at $13,418,150.40. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% in the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ: PANW is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company's product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.

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